PARIS — Police recovered $8,000 scammed from an elderly local man minutes before a UPS driver was to deliver it to an apartment building in New York City.

The 86-year-old man believed he was bailing his grandson out of jail, Paris police Chief Michael Madden said Wednesday.

He said the man came to the Paris Police Department on Jan. 23 to report the scam after he received a call from a person he thought was his grandson asking for the money. The scammer asked the man to overnight the money to an address in the Bronx borough of New York City.

When the elderly man later felt there was something wrong, he reached out to his grandson, who lives out of state, and found out that it was a scam.

Madden said by the time the grandfather realized his error, the money was on a UPS truck heading to an apartment building in the Bronx. Paris police tracked down the delivery truck through the address information and put a halt on the delivery.

Madden, a former longtime police officer in Connecticut, said he was familiar with the area, which is not far from Yankee Stadium, and knew immediately which precinct to call in New York to be at the apartment building when the delivery  truck arrived.

Police were there when the delivery truck pulled up some 30 minutes later and they were able to retrieve the money. It was sent back to Maine and received by police Tuesday.

No suspect had yet been identified, but police in Paris and New York were investigating.

Madden said the grandfather’s initial reaction to sending the money was that he was scared for his grandson.

Madden said elder scams occur everywhere but this one is not typical for this area. He said it’s possible a third party, with enough knowledge of the family, was able to pull off the scam.

“We are looking into that,” Madden said.

“Always be skeptical,” he said. “He believed the person to be his grandson. It’s really hard to avoid that type of situation. You really have to be skeptical.”

Madden said if there is any question, people should talk to their relatives or call police before they send money to an unknown address.

“We were lucky,” Madden said. “It took a few hours to confirm. But another 30 or 40 minutes, it would have been too late.”

Madden said the FBI has a website — http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/seniors — on senior scams and how people can avoid them.

The National Council on Aging also has a website about how to avoid the so-called “Grandparent Scam” and others.

ldixon@sunjournal.com